Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The Canadiens have sent Cedrick Desjardins - who spent most of his time in Hamilton - to Tampa Bay for Karri Ramo.

Desjardins, along with colleague Curtis Sanford, posted the lowest combined GAA in the AHL last season.

Ramo, who played for Omsk in the KHL, was sixth in GAA and was in a fourth-place tie for shutouts. His overall record in 44 games was 21-17-4. He also played 48 NHL games for Tampa from 2006-2009. Ramo's NHL record: 11-21-10.

Monday, August 09, 2010

What an incredible weekend for the Blue Jays. Two well-pitched games and one match with a football-esque score. They also manage to sweep the wild-card leading Rays and that's not even the important part of story.

Brandon Morrow's performance on Sunday was a true masterpiece.

17 strikeouts, one hit and a complete game shutout. He was just one out away from Toronto's first no-hitter in almost 20 years. Unfortunately, he fell short of the no-hit bid and Dave Stieb, after all this time, still stands alone.

The one-hitter should not overshadow Morrow's outing. It was an incredible display of pitching and shows just how good this young hurler can be. And to think, all AA had to give up for Morrow was Brendon League.

Full marks also have to be given out to Vernon Wells for that sensational catch and Jose Molina for keeping everything intact.

***

Forgive the cliche, but J.P. Arencibia's debut on Saturday was one for the ages.

Two homeruns, a double and a single. That's what I would call a good start.

I've always been skeptical when players like Arencibia are described as prospects or studs. However, the hype surrounding Arencibia is holding true. Of course, it's one game and before we start to anoint the young catcher as a future hall-of-famer, let's see what else he can do.

In the past seven days, the Jays took two out of three from the Yankees and swept Tampa. If you're a Blue Jays fan, you can't help but feel optimistic about the future.